Sell Mineral Rights in Ohio

Ohio conveyances typically describe land by township, range and section under the various survey systems used across the state, along with metes-and-bounds calls in older instruments. A mineral interest may be described as all of the oil and gas under a tract, a fraction of it, or a royalty interest carved out of it.

Because Ohio has both a long conventional oil and gas history and a modern horizontal era, one tract can carry instruments written more than a century apart. Reading them together is often what determines what an owner actually holds today.

Ohio recognizes that mineral rights can be separated from surface ownership. Separations were commonly created by reservation when a farm was sold, or by outright conveyance of the minerals to another party.

Ohio also has statutory provisions addressing long-dormant severed mineral interests and marketable title. How those provisions apply is fact-specific and depends on the recorded history of a particular tract, so they should not be assumed to reach a given interest one way or the other. An Ohio attorney should evaluate any question about whether a severed interest remains valid.

Producing Ohio interests are usually associated with a horizontal unit or with older shallow wells, and the owner ordinarily receives a division order and periodic royalty statements. Non-producing interests may be leased, previously produced, or entirely untouched.

Both are reviewed here. Production status is one factor among many and does not by itself decide whether an interest is of interest to a buyer.

Inheritance is the most common way Ohio mineral interests change hands. Estates are administered through the county Probate Court, and recorded documents such as certificates of transfer are often what connect a deceased owner to today's heirs.

When an out-of-state relative owned Ohio minerals, an additional Ohio filing may be required even if an estate was already handled elsewhere. An Ohio attorney can explain what your situation needs.